What’s your spookiest hunting experience?

[epags]

If you live to 84+ you might have a lot of storys to tell.
Oh, oh, oh, just thought of another one.
Alaska, Cold Bay area. Military, leasure time so four of us decide to take a row boat and cruise around the inlet we are at. Opps, tide starts going out (and if you are familiar with Alaskan tides, they go out FAST) We cannot row hard enough so one of us (guess who) jumps over into the inlet (happily the water is only about three or four feet deep) (un happily it is COLD...can you spell Akaska?) Between my pushing and them rowing we overcome the tide and get back to shore.
Now I discoveedr that hypothermia is real.
They tumble me into the truck and turn the heater up high. We get to the barracks and I stumble into my room, strip off my wet clothes (and then do EVERYTHING wrong when you are suffering from hypothermia).
Grab a bottle of whisky take a couple of slugs (whisky? military installation? Who would of thought?) At any rate, turn the shower to hot and jump in.
Well the good lord watches over idiots. I survive the whisky and the hot shower, but, there is a knock on the door...seems our flight out is moved up to 'NOW'.
Guess who has only one set of boots with him and guess if they might be soaking wet.
Never had a more uncomfortable flight while wearing soaking wet boots in a cold military aircraft.
Can you spell 'prune feet'?
And I still was promoted and allowed to remain in the military for 23 years.
Branch of the military has been omitted to avoid highjacking of this thread.

 

[338 dude]

Sometimes the realization that death was a hairs breath away can hit pretty hard.
I was out with my Dad and BIL trying to fill a couple doe tags on a depredation hunt.
Pretty casual, no pressure, not in a hurry. We're in a single cab pickup, I'm in the middle. I have two rifles in my lap. We're basically riding around on a private ranch looking for deer.
We come around a rise and see several does. Dad pops it in to neutral, steps on the e-brake, and I grab his Rem 700 to pass it to him on his way out the door. The bolt handle hits the shift knob and the gun fired. On safe!

I had been riding around with the muzzle pointed right at me. I'm sure it was pointed at my dad during the transition from the floor. I looked at my dad and asked him why it was loaded in the truck? He was white as a ghost.
I was taught to clear the chamber when arriving back to the truck by HIM. Nothing chambered inside the truck, ever. Yet we had just had what could have been catastrophic.
He wasn't much in the mood to hunt the rest of the trip.

Remington was famous, or rather infamous for Remington moments with the walker trigger they designed a new trigger called it the X Mark pro and that was the trigger in my wife's rifle, so it was no improvement at all!

 

[BigNate]

Remington was famous, or rather infamous for Remington moments with the walker trigger they designed a new trigger called it the X Mark pro and that was the trigger in my wife's rifle, so it was no improvement at all!

I to this day ask if we're "all clear" before getting into a rig with anyone. My boys and I usually clear the chambers when approaching the rig. We still own a couple Rems, but I don't trust them.

 

[338 dude]

I to this day ask if we're "all clear" before getting into a rig with anyone. My boys and I usually clear the chambers when approaching the rig. We still own a couple Rems, but I don't trust them.

Always unload no matter what type of trigger you have, but I would recommend a trigger tech or timney. They are not that expensive and a life is always worth it!!!!

 

[memtb]

I had a Ben for a time when I was 9-10. Hard to pump up, I was kinda small. But boy could that thing put out the lead!

I got mine for my 7th….difficult (impossible) to pump more than about 4 or 5 pumps! My method would not be recommended, stock between thighs with legs crossed with barrel pointed upwards, this would put the muzzle beside the head but above the head on a small kid, then use both hands to pump the rifle! Safe ……as long as it's unloaded! Probably scary to anyone observing! memtb

 

[VaWhiteTailHunter76]

I been at the beach all week and you guys and gals have provided me with several hours of great entertainment. Thank you for sharing.

Stupid/Reckless People
When I was in twenties I was hunting my grandmother's farm. I left the woods early, maybe 10 or 15 minutes before sunset since some dogs had come running through the woods and I thought that deer hunting was probably over for the day. I was standing at the campfire we always kept burning and had this uneasy feeling of being watched. When I turned around I see a hunter who had walked clear of the brush and was standing in the open maybe 400 yards away. Not thinking much of this I turned around to continue watching the fire. That is when I heard something whiz by my right ear, I didn't realize it was a bullet until I heard the report of the rifle. When I turned around that *** was gone.

Crazy animals
I have also experienced the heart stopping episode of quails busting out the cedar trees right at eye level. Though I think the worst fright from birds happens when walking to my tree stand before light and having a flock of turkeys bust of of the trees as I walk under their roost. The first time that happened I thought for sure it was over for me.
I am quite familiar with the property I hunt so I don't normally use a light when walking to my stand in the dark. One morning I'm walking along and I feel something on my pack boot, I thought about just kicking whatever it was but decided a wiser course of action would be to dig my light out of my pocket. So, I get the light out and so help me a skunk is on my boot. I froze and waited until he scampered off it to the brush before continuing my journey.

PlumberEd

Have to agree with you Ed. I had a similar experience many moons ago, except I was walking out of the woods at dusk. I was sneaking down this old logging road, trying to be quiet in case there were any deer heading to the hayfields in the area, when I walked under a couple of really tall pines beside the road. Had no more than gotten under them and a flock of turkeys exploded off their roost. I jumped like a cat on a hot tin roof and felt EVERY hair on my body go erect. I think it took me 5 minutes to finally calm down enough to continue my exit from the woods. Scariest thing I've had happen to me in the woods in the last 50-yrs of hunting.

 

[VaWhiteTailHunter76]

Kill it? If I did that I might as well shoot myself rather than have to listen to my wife for the next decade, plus she would tell everyone at church.

Your wife must be kin to mine!!!

 

[gareyg]

Idaho Elk in 1997. The scariest part of this trip was on the way in. The closest to death that I believe I ever got. A friend in Oregon bought a jet boat mostly for fishing. We heard of some good Elk hunting up the Middle Fork of the Salmon, accessible by jet boat. How hard could it be? 30 mile drive up the Salmon out of Riggins. Across the Manning bridge, a tight 90 degree bridge with sections of railroad rail curved and greased on the inside corners to drag a trailer around. Put in at the Vinegar Creek ramp, end of the road. Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, so no roads or anything for many miles in any direction. Good rendition of this river and area in "Hell I was There!" by Elmer Keith. Must have reading, as he pretty much puts all our stories combined here to shame. The river was not navigable upstream until jetboats were invented. We put the boat in, planning to run 7 miles up to Bull Creek. Our Captain talks to a guide coming off the water, who volunteers to give him a run up the river to show him how to navigate the (considerable) rapids. He returns and me and the rest of the first half of our group load up and away we go. While my brother and the others wait at the ramp for their turn, a salty older gentleman arrives at the ramp in a well used boat and says hello. He says "what are you boys up to?" Oh, we're going elk hunting. "Ahh. Who's taking you?" Our friend is taking us up with his jetboat. "Has he been on this river before?" No, it's his first time, with his new boat. A guide gave him a quick tour and our first bunch is on its way upriver now. Old man says "….now let me get this straight… your friend is taking his new jetboat, with a load of hunters, up this river, for the first time?" Yep! My brother says. Old man says "ok, here's what I want you to do. See that big rock there on the riverbank? Everyone go have a seat there." Brother says "why?". Old man says "Well, in about 15 minutes all your gear is going to come floating by." Meanwhile we're motoring up the river. The Cap'n had a pretty good line on each rapid and we did ok, although the water was obviously very strong and fast. Then, we came to a strong rapid, where the line was between two very large boulders, maybe 15 feet apart. We lined up and made our run up the center. The water was very fast and heavily bowed on top, difficult to run. Our nose came off the center, and plunged into the large hole right behind the left boulder. The nose bottomed out, and the jet stalled being stuck up in the air near vertical. We came out sideways, ol Cap'n frantically trying to restart. Miraculously we somehow recover. We bank the boat, perform underwear operations and stuff, walk up to the rapid and look it over anxiously from every angle for probably an hour, and Cap'n says ok I got it let's go. We made it, and he made several more trips throughout our hunt without incident. That first time, we probably should have all died. We knew the boat got dented, but after the hunt when we took it out of the water, it had a HUGE dent in the bow, surprised it didn't puncture. Later Cap'n takes the boat back to the builder for repair. The owner says "yikes, where did that happen?". Middle fork of the Salmon. "Oh, ya I took my jet boat up there and capsized it! Lucky to be alive! (This was the jet boat manufacturing company owner). It was a great hunt (before they reintroduced wolves), and more hair raising adventure, which will be Part 2.

 

[C-130 Dude]

I to this day ask if we're "all clear" before getting into a rig with anyone. My boys and I usually clear the chambers when approaching the rig. We still own a couple Rems, but I don't trust them.

Absolutely! Unless your in a war zone, never travel in any vechicle with one in the chamber. Stupid!

 

[C-130 Dude]

I got mine for my 7th….difficult (impossible) to pump more than about 4 or 5 pumps! My method would not be recommended, stock between thighs with legs crossed with barrel pointed upwards, this would put the muzzle beside the head but above the head on a small kid, then use both hands to pump the rifle! Safe ……as long as it's unloaded! Probably scary to anyone observing! memtb

I always aimed for 10 pumps. Didn't get there for 2 years. I was elated when I finally did and remember running in and telling my dad. He gleaned! I thought I had arrived.

 

[memtb]

As best I can remember, my was always 6…..but, that was 60+ years ago! memtb

 

[C-130 Dude]

Have to agree with you Ed. I had a similar experience many moons ago, except I was walking out of the woods at dusk. I was sneaking down this old logging road, trying to be quiet in case there were any deer heading to the hayfields in the area, when I walked under a couple of really tall pines beside the road. Had no more than gotten under them and a flock of turkeys exploded off their roost. I jumped like a cat on a hot tin roof and felt EVERY hair on my body go erect. I think it took me 5 minutes to finally calm down enough to continue my exit from the woods. Scariest thing I've had happen to me in the woods in the last 50-yrs of hunting.

I'd been reaching for my nitro pills.

 

[marksman1941]

Absolutely! Unless you're in a war zone, never travel in any vechicle with one in the chamber. Stupid!

I made that mistake exactly once and I was ungodly mortified. I came down from elk camp to get some scope caps. I had forgotten mine at home so ran to the nearest sporting goods store for caps to fight the snow with. I went into sportsman's warehouse with a my rifle in a case as per policy so I could match up scope caps to my optic.

At the front desk they have those silly little bullet traps where you stick your muzzle in, open the bolt, they verify it's clear, and tag the rifle so you can pack it around the store. So we did the procedure and a 30/06 shell flopped out onto the counter. Left me absolutely speechless, beyond angry, and mortified. I apologized for 5 minutes and just left without my scope caps. I couldn't bear to walk through the store after such a display of stupidity.

 

[Muddyboots]

Yep, I seem to have those "what the" moments. I was 20-22 miles off shore on Lake Ontario with 2 other boats in late 80's. Flat calm, high pressure, so we knew we had weather in our favor. So about an hour before dark we all pulled our trolling gear and rafted up for second to talk about run back into Oswego. We were all idling. And then we all were not. All our engines shut down at same time. We all looked at each in disbelief. We all tried to start them up and none of them even chugged. Our electronics acted like an EMP hit. Nothing worked. Compasses spun around without direction. Radios down, well before cell phones. Now this was freaking us out. Heck we were in main shipping lanes and thought of floating out there in dark was not appealing. So after 15 minutes, one engine started, then rest started. We all agreed since it was flat calm, we all ran back in full throttle 35-37 mph. Pulled into Oswego about 45 min later. Could not get boat onto trailer fast enough! I spoke to Coast Guard next day and no clue what could have caused it. We SAW or HEARD nothing.....